1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to devices to scoop up and dispose of waste material, or animal refuse deposited on a surface by a pet dog or other animal.
2. Description of Related Art
A pet dog is said to be housebroken when trained to excretory habits acceptable for indoor living; particularly, a housebroken dog is taught to confine these habits to the outdoors. In a rural environment, this presents no problem because the dog is free to deposit solid waste material or animal refuse in any open field where it can decompose over time. But in urban and suburban communities, where the deposit of animal refuse on sidewalks or in other public places cannot be tolerated, pet owners are now faced with so-called xe2x80x9canimal refuse scooperxe2x80x9d laws. Such laws mandate that those responsible for a dog or other pet animal must promptly remove animal refuse deposited by the pet on a sidewalk or other outdoor sites. Since a violation of these laws may subject a pet owner to heavy fines, owners seek in various ways to comply with the laws without, however, becoming soiled in the process. Because animal refuse may contain harmful bacteria or could present other health hazards, a sanitary and efficient way to pick up and dispose of animal refuse is needed.
One conceivable way of scooping up animal refuse from the sidewalk would be to use a conventional dust pan and brush. For this purpose, the pet owner would advance the dust pan toward the animal refuse, pushing it with the brush into the dust pan in the same manner as dirt. Then the animal refuse is transferred from the dustpan into a bag suitable for disposal. One practical problem with this procedure (and one reason it is rarely used) is that the dust pan and the brush inevitably become contaminated with the animal refuse, and therefore both must be cleaned (and maybe sterilized) after use.
Another approach is to train the pet dog to deposit animal refuse on a sheet of newspaper placed on the ground by the dog owner who, after a deposit is made, folds the paper into a package for disposal. But this approach leaves much to be desired because it is difficult to train a dog to defer depositing animal refuse until the owner has found a convenient place to lay down a sheet of newspaper. Moreover, it can be an uncomfortable and unpleasant experience for the dog owner to lay down a newspaper sheet and then fold it about an animal refuse deposit.
A more commonly used technique is for a dog owner to place one of his hands in a small, bag, using the biodegradable bag as a glove to pick up the animal refuse. The dog owner then pulls the bag off his hand by inverting it which thereby packages the animal refuse inside the bag so that the animal refuse is bagged and can then be discarded. Apart from the fact that the dog owner is required to handle the animal refuse with his gloved hand-an experience that many find distasteful-a significant problem is the possibility that the biodegradable bag may not be properly sealed or that it will rupture in use and thereby soil the handler.
Another animal refuse handling technique is disclosed in the 1989 patent to Peck, U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,729 (the ""729 patent). This approach makes it possible to isolate the handler from the animal refuse and thereby encourage compliance with the xe2x80x9cscooper animal refusexe2x80x9d laws. This technique makes use of a triangular frame having a handle attached to its apex, the frame being inserted into a small biodegradable bag so that the broad base of a frame is adjacent the closed end of the biodegradable bag covering the frame. In use, the bag-covered frame is held at an angle to the ground surface on which the animal refuse is deposited, and then advanced to scoop up the animal refuse so that it falls within the confines of the biodegradable bag-covered frame. The user, with his other hand, then inverts the bag so that the outside of the biodegradable bag becomes the inside and the animal refuse is then contained therein to provide a disposable package. One advantage of this technique is that the user""s hands are isolated: from the animal refuse and there is no risk of contamination. One practical, drawback of this technique is that it is not always effective in scooping up animal refuse. For example, the mass, firmness and configuration of animal refuse depends on the dog and what the dog excretes on a given occasion. It is not always easy, therefore, simply with a forward motion of the biodegradable, bag-covered frame, to scoop up the animal refuse, for there is no force holding the animal refuse in place or pushing it toward the advancing bag-covered frame. In contradistinction, with a conventional dustpan and brush arrangement, the brush functions as a tool that cooperates with the pan to push waste matter into the pan. In the absence of the brush, a forward motion of the pan may only succeed in pushing the waste matter forward.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,871, issued to Hemans (the xe2x80x98871xe2x80x99 patent) discloses a hand-held device for picking up animal waste using a scooping device and a fold-lock-top sandwich bag as the receptacle for waste material. The large pocket of the fold-lock-top sandwich bag fits through a central opening in the scoop device while the small pocket completely covers the scooping-type tapered blade, which purportedly prevents soiling of the scoop device by the waste material. A single centrally-located hook is provided opposite the tapered blade for the purpose of attaching the flap of the bag, which maintains the bag in an open configuration. One problem of the scooping device disclosed in the ""871 patent is that the hook cannot not hold the sandwich bag firmly in place and furthermore attachment of the hook to the bag creates a rip that, under even small pressure, can extend so far that the flap is released from the hook thereby eliminating the support necessary to hold the bag in an open position. Slippage of the bag during pickup can create difficulties in picking up the waste; for example, as the blade is advanced forward, the friction between the bag and the surface forces the interior of the bag to slip forward, pushing the waste away from the advancing blade. Slippage can also reduce the size of the opening in the bag, which could interfere with picking up the animal waste. Large amounts of slippage could cause the small pocket of the bag to fall away entirely from the blade, leading to possible dropping of the waste.
Dog animal refuse is excrement, and the handling of disease-bearing animal refuse is not only a repellent activity, but one in which there is a risk of contamination. While dog owners are generally law-abiding and have no wish to defy xe2x80x9cscooper animal refusexe2x80x9d laws, these laws are nevertheless disobeyed by many dog owners due to the difficulties with prior art refuse scooping devices.
A shovel and attachable bag assembly is described to scoop up and act as a repository for waste material and/or animal refuse deposited on a surface by a pet animal. In one embodiment, the animal shovel and bag assembly comprises an adjustable handle, a spaded loop, and a biodegradable rectangular biodegradable bag whose dimensions are such to allow the biodegradable bag to be inserted over the spaded loop to allow the central pocket of the biodegradable bag to receive animal refuse. The biodegradable bag creates a pocket to place the animal refuse inside. In operating the assembly, the user grasps the handle in one hand and with a forward stepping motion advances the open end of the attached biodegradable bag along the surface toward the animal refuse, scoops the animal refuse into the bag in the confines of the spaded loop, and the animal refuse tumbles into the bag. Then, after at least partially detaching the bag, the user inverts the bag so that now the animal refuse is inside the biodegradable bag and is packaged thereby in condition for disposal.
An animal refuse shovel for receiving a disposable bag comprises a handle and a spaded loop connected thereto. The spaded loop includes a spade having a protruding leading edge, a first support arm connected on one end of the spade and a second support arm connected on the opposite end of the spade, a base connected between the first and second support arms, a first extended corner at the interface between the first support arm and the base, and a second extended corner at the interface between the second support arm and the base. The spade, the first extended corner, and the second extended corner are configured to affix the bag thereto and to hold the bag under tension in an open configuration to receive the animal refuse. The first extended corner may comprise a first shoulder that extends vertically above the first support arm and the base, and the second extended corner may comprise a second shoulder that extends vertically above the second support arm and the base, which can assist in tensioning the bag. In addition, the first support arm may comprise a curved section proximate to the spade, the curved section extending outwardly in an approximately horizontal direction from the spaded loop, and the second support arm may comprise a curved section proximate to the spade, the curved section extending outwardly in an approximately horizontal direction from the spaded loop. The curved sections increase tension and tighten the forward pocket of the bag along the underside of the spade. The curved sections also widen the opening near the spade, and the portions of the bag stretched over the curved section create barriers that partially enclose the central pocket of the bag and assist in keeping the animal refuse within the bag.
In one embodiment, the disposable bag for affixing onto the animal refuse shovel comprises a central pocket, a downward-facing forward pocket on the front side of the bag, a downward-facing rear pocket on the back side of the bag, and a welded seam at each interface between the forward and rear pockets, the seam welded to the side of the central pocket.
A method of affixing a disposable bag to a shovel for the purpose of shoveling and packaging animal refuse deposited by an animal on a surface comprises inserting a central pocket of the bag into the central opening of the spaded loop, inserting a first pocket of the bag over the leading edge of the spade, inserting a first section of a second pocket of the bag over a first extended corner situated rearward of the leading edge, tensioning the first corner section of the bag over the first extended corner, thereby tensioning the bag between the leading edge and the first extended corner, and affixing the first corner section to the first extended corner. Likewise, a second section of the second pocket of the bag is inserted over a second extended corner situated rearward of the leading edge and opposite from first extended corner, the second corner section of the bag is tensioned over the second extended corner, thereby tensioning the bag between the leading edge, the first extended corner, and the second extended corner, and the second corner section is affixed to the second extended corner. The method may include tensioning the first corner section including pulling the first corner section over a first shoulder provided on the first extended corner of the spaded loop, and tensioning the second corner section including pulling the second corner section over a second shoulder provided on a second extended corner of the spaded loop. The method may also comprise inserting the forward pocket over curved sections on first and second support arms proximate to the spade, and tensioning the bag against the curved sections to tighten the forward pocket along the underside of the spade.
After the bag is affixed to the shovel, a user may shovel animal refuse into the open central pocket of the bag. Subsequently the bag is detached from the first and second extended corners, the rear pocket is inverted over the forward pocket thereby covering the forward pocket and sealing the bag, the forward pocket is removed from the spade, and the bag is disposed of. In this method, the forward pocket may be removed either before inverting the bag or after inverting the bag, depending upon user preference. Some users may prefer to invert the bag over the forward pocket while the spade is holding it in position, in order to avoid unintended contamination.
In one embodiment, the spade is flexible, tapered and has an angle within about 25xc2x0 to about 35xc2x0, (and preferably 30xc2x0). One advantage of this embodiment is that the spade can conform to the surface underlying the animal refuse, and a user can, with one hand, advance the biodegradable bag-covered spaded loop toward the animal refuse to be picked up with one easy motion. This can be particularly useful if the use has only one free hand, such as when the other hand is holding a dog leash.
In one embodiment the handle is adjustable to accommodate people of various heights, as well as disabled and/or wheelchair-confined persons. Furthermore, the spaded loop and adjustable handle provides an assembly in its storage mode that is highly compact.